The Bok and Roo Blog

March 10th, 2010 | Posted by Del

I’m still off work! A week after seeing the dotor (excuse the pun), my conjunctivitis had still not cleared up. Actually, it had spread to the other eye! So yesterday morning I headed back to see what Doc had to say. Nothing apparently. Except to keep putting the drops in my eyes. Oh, and take another week off. Contagious you see (or don’t see).
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The question now is what to do with myself for the whole week. The weather is pretty crappy, so outdoors stuff is pretty much out of the question. I was going to go ride my mountain bike but it’s cold and I’m a fair weather rider. I thought about going fishing but, again, cold!
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Maybe I’ll stay indoors and brew beer. And play Playstation and Wii. And scan old photos. And blog. Sounds like a much better idea!
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PS: I just bought an old fridge on eBay that I plan on using as a brew fridge. It’s an old 1950’s Electrolux. Cost me $11.51!

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March 6th, 2010 | Posted by Del

So last week was “Bring your kids to work week” in the US. Well at JFK anyway.
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Apparently an air traffic controller thought it would be a laugh to let his kid chat to an aeroplane that was about to take-off from one of the world’s busiest airports. He allowed his kid to give the planes clearance to take off. OK, so it wasn’t just a random thing – the father told the kid exactly what to say and when to say it.
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But the icing on the cake is that he brought another kid in the next day to do exactly the same thing! During his visit, the boy got to squeak out a few instructions to pilots before signing off, including telling the crew aboard a departing Aero Mexico flight, “Adios, amigos.”
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Pilots were delighted, the FAA not so much! It has also barred unofficial visits by friends or relatives to FAA air traffic operational areas while it reviews its policies. The ATC has also been suspended.
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Read more about it here or listen to the recording here.
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March 4th, 2010 | Posted by Del

Two months in and still going strong! These are my favourite shots from the month of February
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Want to see more Project 365 photos? Click here: http://project365.thebokandroo.com

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March 2nd, 2010 | Posted by Del

Wow! What a weekend we had in Perth. Craft beers, 40°C+ temperatures, white sand beaches, turquoise ocean, Swan River, Wheel of Perth and, of course, a wedding in a garden.
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We left early on Thursday morning, arriving in Perth at 9.45am with the temperature soaring into the high thirties already. We drove straight to our hotel and checked in. After lunch and resting in our airconditioned rooms, we headed to Fremantle for a BBQ with the extended family. Let’s just say it was a late night and many beers, boubons and bottles of wine were consumed.
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Friday morning was a little cooler, so we went for a walk around the CBD with the kids before heading down the hill to the Swan River. A quick visit to the Perth Exhibition Centre then a ride on the ‘Wheel of Perth‘ close to the Bell.
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The evening we went to Fremantle again. A short visit to the ‘Little Creatures’ Brewery to taste their full range of beers (5 beers and a cider in total) was followed by dinner at “Benny’s“, an institution famous for its chilli mussels. And yes, they lived up to their reputation. Dinner was washed down with some delicious Italian gelato.
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Saturday was wedding day. From morning ’til late into the night. The ceremony was at 1.30pm but preparation of the ladies and kids started long before that. It was a formal garden wedding and the suits didn’t go down as well as the bottles of water and cold beer in the 36°C heat. The reception was in the city from 6.30pm and again the liquid flowed. Not just alcohol – gallons of water and soft drink was consumed too. The food was delicious, the dessert even better. The DJ was good and the speeches even better.
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Sunday was a chill day. We walked up to the local park where a food and wine festival was going on. After lunch in the park, we drove to Kings Park which is a huge park in central Perth. It encompasses the local botanical gardens, memorials, amphitheatres and sports grounds. We went for a walk on the glass walkways and admired the views. From here we drove to the Fremantle Cemetary so the family could visit some relatives and I walked around to visit the grave of Bon Scott (of AC/DC fame).
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Our last stop before catching the red-eye home was dinner with family in Fremantle again. The family’s Italian side shone through with pizza starters, mains that included spaghetti with meatballs, chicken cacciatore, calamari rings, risotto and salad.
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We arrived in Melbourne around 6.30am, drove home and hit the hay, sleeping through ’til 2pm.
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February 24th, 2010 | Posted by Del

Did I forget to mention that today is the last day of my working week?
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Well, it is. Tomorrow morning I will be getting up at 5am, driving to the airport and boarding a plane to Perth. For a wedding.
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It should be a pretty good weekend – wedding on Cottesloe Beach, reception in the city. Plus the Force are playing in Perth this Saturday night. But I don’t think I’ll get to the game ‘cos the wedding reception is on at the same time.
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And of course, there is Freemantle. The “Little Creatures” brewery is calling my name. As are those delicious chilli mussels!
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I’ll give you an update on Tuesday when I get back to work…

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February 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Del

You can probably tell that I’ve been busy at work lately ‘cos there hasn’t been much time for blogging. I haven’t even had time to read other blogs!
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So last weekend was a rugbyfest in our house! Yes, my team lost again. And by a small margin again. But what a feast of rugby we had. The lowest scoring game was my team (The Mighty Sharks) v the Cheetahs with only 2 tries but how about that Lions v Chiefs game? 16 tries! What a game to behold! Of course, if you are a rugby purist, you would probably have been disgusted by the lack of defence on both sides. But as a scoring spectacle, this one was hard to beat.
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A total of 50 tries were scored last weekend. So maybe these new rules are working although I must admit that I don’t like how they have negated players like McCaw or Brussow by not allowing them to play the ball straight after the tackle. As a matter of fact, four from 7 yellow cards handed out over the weekend were for tackle infringements. And so were most of the penalties.
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Let’s hope that the players ‘learn’ the new rules as quickly as the referees have picked them up.
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On a more personal note, I have started rugby training again too and last Thursday night I managed to score 4 tries (including a fantastic Habana-esque intercept try) during our 1 hour game of touch.

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